When Pierpaolo Piccioli landed in Paris to start out working as Balenciaga’s new artistic director final June, he went straight from the airport to the Balenciaga archive close to Bourget, to which he would commit a complete of three days, keen to examine attire that he had solely ever seen in pictures.
He would spend the subsequent month working at Balenciaga headquarters, overlapping with the tenure of Demna, who would stage his closing couture present on July 9 earlier than taking the artistic lead of sister home Gucci in Italy.
“So we had been sharing all of the groups, all of the areas, and that was attention-grabbing, too,” he stated. “To have two artistic administrators sharing the identical home for one month, you study the concept of respect, of tolerance, of sharing, which I believe is essential for all times, not just for trend.”
These gestures say a lot about Piccioli, a considerate, pushed and deeply humanist designer who was eager to know extra about those that lead the home earlier than them, to honor their contributions — and to get to the crux of how he would put his personal stamp on Balenciaga.
From his deep dive into the archive, the Italian designer rapidly distilled the essence of the Paris home, its legacy of disruption and the “tradition of couture” solid by founder Cristóbal Balenciaga.
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He was enthralled to find how the legendary couturier translated very extreme and austere traces into gentle and supple clothes, meticulously choosing the proper materials and placing air between them and the wearer.
“I understood that each one his work was primarily based on the concept of the physique, ranging from the physique, generally going very removed from the physique, however all the time with the physique on the middle of his work,” Piccioli associated throughout an interview at Balenciaga’s places of work on the Rue de Sèvres, the place his debut present is scheduled for Saturday night time. “So I wish to apply that methodology to my method of engaged on Balenciaga, placing humanity on the middle of the analysis of trend, and making it related for at this time.
“I wish to get into actuality by way of silhouette and materials. I didn’t wish to be nostalgic. For me, it was essential to be related for at this time, silhouettes that might be attention-grabbing at this time, but additionally wearable at this time… To make the unusual very extraordinary.”
Even earlier than he landed in Paris — his appointment was revealed final Could — Piccioli had traveled to the founder’s birthplace and visited the Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga in Getaria, Spain.
There he was flabbergasted to find video footage of a lady sporting a darkish Balenciaga sack gown on the streets of Paris within the ’50s, encountering curiosity and visual scorn.
Piccioli noticed solely innovation and liberation.
“Seeing the response of individuals made me perceive how related, how disruptive and the way sort his work was, releasing ladies from the load” of their garments, he stated, noting that Dior’s unique New Look weighed roughly 9 kilos, versus about one or two for the sack gown.
Particulars of the upcoming Balenciaga spring 2026 assortment.
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For the interview, Piccioli was wearing black layers, his outfit sparked by a white and pink pair of Triple S sneakers, measurement 42, which he bought when Balenciaga first launched them in 2017. The hefty footwear have been emblematic of the model’s renown inside streetwear circles, prized for its oversize outerwear, slogan knits and distressed denims.
Balenciaga has flirted with quite a lot of trend instructions underneath its earlier artistic administrators, which even have included Josephus Thimister, Alexander Wang and Nicolas Ghesquière, who leaned into an experimental and at instances futuristic method that catapulted the home again into trend’s large leagues.
Earlier than parting methods with Valentino in March 2024, Piccioli had spent most of his profession on the Roman home and sharing the artistic director function collectively with Maria Grazia Chiuri from 2008 till 2016, when he took the lead. He began in trend with a 10-year stint at Fendi, additionally working there alongside Chiuri.
Piccioli has been teasing his new imaginative and prescient for Balenciaga in a marketing campaign that options his tattooed forearms writing with a brush and a pot of ink; a 1967 wedding ceremony ensemble by the founding Spanish designer that was additionally the primary image Piccioli ever uploaded on his private Instagram web page, and Roni Horn portraits of Isabelle Huppert circa 2005-2006, with out make-up or pink carpet apparel.
“In her humanity, not as movie star,” Piccioli clarified.
There’s additionally a black-and-white picture of Lucio Fontana about to slice a canvas. “That act was very significant, as a result of he was creating a brand new world, a brand new risk, and it was radical, however very spontaneous and instinctive,” the designer stated.
As a foil to the practically sci-fi sleekness of the marriage ensemble with its Darth Vader-esque hat, Piccioli additionally showcases the founder’s well-known rose gown, memorable for its face-framing doughnut of scrunched cloth.
“In that rigidity lies the essence of Cristóbal, maximalism versus minimalism — each as deliberate and spontaneous gestures.”
In a wide-ranging dialog with WWD, the designer elaborated on his archive trawl, his preliminary intentions and his ambitions for Balenciaga:
WWD: Ought to we be stunned to search out out you want Balenciaga sneakers?
Pierpaolo Piccioli: I like what has been finished right here. It’s not respectful, and never good for the home to disclaim what has been finished earlier than. I really feel {that a} work in continuity and transformation makes the home richer, exhibiting new sides, new facets, new angles, new factors of view.
WWD: Please inform us extra of of your impressions after visiting the archive.
P.P.: As a designer, everyone knows the work of Cristóbal Balenciaga from afar — the volumes, the proportions. However whenever you see them up shut, you actually perceive how many individuals have been impressed by Cristóbal. These shapes have been coming from from a really architectural standpoint.
WWD: How did you begin after gathering all these impressions?
P.P.: For me, researching materials was essential, and notably the silk gazar utilized by Cristóbal, who developed a double-yarn model which allowed a extra inflexible construction however with none additional weight, so this allowed him to create his architectural silhouettes.
I made a decision to create materials with this concept in thoughts, however not solely silk gazar. This assortment is under no circumstances an homage to Cristóbal. It’s my standpoint, however I needed to work on materials with the identical form of method, with a rigidity between lightness and construction. So I created cotton gazar and wool gazar that might be extra related for each day put on and life at this time.
It took time to reach on the easy idea of the construction and the lightness, the silhouette and the air.
WWD: And what was your principal takeaway out of your exploration of the founder’s birthplace?
P.P.: I really feel that Cristóbal was, like me, each instinctive and rational on the identical time. So as soon as I discovered the strategy that may be good for me and near Cristóbal’s, you then should let your intuition information you. I wish to incorporate my very own sensibility and ship in my very own method. I additionally noticed, in fact, the work of Nicolas (Ghesquière) and Demna, in fact.
WWD: And your impressions seeing the unique garments up shut?
P.P.: The colours have been generally nearly violent. I felt from Cristóbal a deliberate gesture and intentionality of selecting one cloth, one shade, one form. And that’s my method of shaping a set, additionally colours and cloth in a single gesture solely. I really feel that some shapes should be in a single shade, in a single cloth. That’s the intuition.
WWD: So ought to we count on a colourful debut?
P.P.: Sure, there’s shade and there’ll some prints. I discovered some scarves that have been very attention-grabbing as a result of there was simply an intention of shade, like a human brush stroke of shade on a white floor. And there are prints that appear to be completely different materials, like tweed, however are literally printed on gazar or taffeta.
WWD: Have been you given any particular directives or steering from administration?
P.P.: In no way. I felt tremendous free to observe my intuition and my imaginative and prescient about Balenciaga, and I felt belief from Gianfranco (Gianangeli), my CEO, and from all of the crew, too.
I imagine that now greater than ever, the function of a artistic director can solely totally flourish when it’s met with real belief and significant help from the CEO. That alignment is what permits creativity to maneuver past concepts and actually turn out to be affect.
On this firm, I’ve been lucky to search out precisely that in Gianfranco. His help and confidence haven’t solely strengthened my work, but additionally given me the sense of being understood and valued in what I carry. I’m deeply conscious of this, and sincerely grateful.
WWD: You stated whenever you joined that you’d honor all of the designers that got here earlier than you. How?
P.P.: They’re a part of the method. There are items like, say the T-shirt, one of many symbols of Demna, that I did with a really gentle jersey with a form that may appear to be the very well-known wedding ceremony gown.
Demna introduced Cristóbal into the streetwear form of actuality. For me, this home is, in fact, primarily based on the concept of couture. So I wish to use this concept of couture as tradition to method items that might be wearable, like a T-shirt, or a pair of denims.
It’s not about elevating — I hate this phrase — however it comes from building, research and analysis. Typically when you consider couture, you suppose solely about magnificence and never actuality and coolness. I believe coolness has one thing to do with actuality.
WWD: What do you hope to perform with this primary present?
P.P.: I made a decision to indicate solely ladies’s as a result of I felt that I needed to redefine a brand new aesthetic for this home. Our job — and I repeat this to myself daily — is about witnessing our instances by way of trend and thru an concept of magnificence. My objective is to outline and to ship my imaginative and prescient of magnificence, however associated to our instances and to this home, so preserving the codes of the home, like disruption, creativity, including most likely humanity and couture as tradition, however attempting to do a reconciliation with every part that’s been finished earlier than.
WWD: Why did you resolve to have your first present at Balenciaga headquarters?
P.P.: As a result of it’s an area that’s heat. I needed the intimacy of a salon de couture, however with out the type of a salon de couture.
I just like the additionally the concept that Demna did his retrospective exhibition right here. So in a method, I’m beginning the place simply left.
WWD: It’s not the best second for enterprise and luxurious, and amid many artistic adjustments. Does it have an effect on you?
P.P.: Truly, I don’t really feel this. We are able to ship a special concept of trend. On this recreation of musical chairs, we are literally individuals, and every of us reacts in his or her method. I’m one of many chairs, however I’m an individual. I simply do my very own factor, and I don’t really feel the stress of being a part of this recreation.
I nonetheless really feel this job as a chance to specific my concepts and my values by way of my creativity.
WWD: Underneath Demna, the home grew to become recognized for black, outsized, and a streetwear sensibility. Ought to we count on any of that, or a few of that, to proceed?
P.P.: Demna has been disruptive, like Nicolas has been disruptive, and Cristóbal has been disruptive. Disruptiveness is a part of the DNA of this home, and I like this persevering with this concept of disruptiveness.
You will note a silhouette that’s completely different from what from what you see now, however in continuity with the work of the individuals who have been earlier than.
WWD: What are your ambitions for the home, creatively and culturally?
P.P.: To me Balenciaga is, and should keep, probably the most related home when it comes to creativity. To me it’s probably the most artistic, probably the most disruptive, probably the most trend. These previous years, we’ve been speaking loads about enterprise. However when speaking about trend, creativity must be the main drive and probably the most related drive.